IT’S A GIRL!!

We are so excited to be adding a girl to our family in May! I can’t believe I got my little girl! Dane and I both had a strong feeling this baby would be a girl and we were so excited to find out we were right! Adler still doesn’t quite get what’s going on but he is going to be an amazing big brother.

I had my anatomy scan appointment on December 15th. I was sad that Dane wasn’t able to join me this time. My OB sent me to the hospital to have my scan done and she told me these appointments take 2 hours so I would need to set that much time aside for it. I was confused on why they needed that long but sometimes baby doesn’t always cooperate! :) 

I went back and they had a big screen for me to look at. It’s amazing how they show you all the body parts and the blood flow to certain areas like the heart and through the umbilical cord. The tech asked if I wanted to find out the gender and I asked her if she could just write it down on a piece of paper and stick it in an envelop. She was trying to look at the baby’s face and the baby would not cooperate! She was on her stomach the whole time and the ultrasound tech had me switch positions and would gently push on my stomach to get the baby to move around (now I know why they set aside two hours!). We finally got to see the baby’s profile and she measured and checked everything she needed to. I’m so glad that baby girl is healthy and everything looks great! 

After my appointment I went to Georgetown Cupcakes to drop off my gender envelop for the cupcakes. When we first started having kids I always wanted to use Georgetown cupcakes to reveal the gender but we were living in Utah so when we moved back to Virginia and I got pregnant I knew I wanted Georgetown cupcakes! Unfortunately they needed 24 hours to complete my order so I left and the long process of waiting began.  

I went home and my mom immediately asked me what I was having. She said she couldn’t wait, so she looked at note! I can’t believe her!! I went back and forth between looking and waiting for the cupcakes. It wasn’t as bad as I thought because I had the answer and if I really wanted to, I could look! 

I picked the cupcakes up the next day and then had to wait for everyone to get home from all their activities. Once we were all together we filmed our reaction and each took a bite out of our cupcakes! Everyone started cheering and I knew what that meant! I didn’t bite far enough into mine so I couldn’t see the pink right away but I was so excited!

Adler had no idea what was going on. Everyone started cheering and he looked a little concerned but then when we said he would have a sister he smiled! I wanted to take a picture of Adler eating one of the cupcakes with pink frosting all over his face but he is getting over a fever so he was not having any of it! He didn’t even want to eat the cupcake! 

I of course have already started shopping and we are pretty sure we have a name but we are keeping it a secret for now! Adler is going to be an amazing big brother and we can’t wait to meet baby girl!!

It's a Girl!!

Ok…ok… I must confess. Dane and I could not wait for the cupcakes to come so we peaked on Tuesday night and filmed our reaction! My mom was saying that she was expecting more of a reaction from me when we bit into the cupcakes (she didn’t know we already looked) so I had to tell her that we looked the day before. Apparently I need to work on my surprised face! 

2nd Pregnancy So Far:

I have been trying to be just as good about documenting this pregnancy as I was with my first (although I still wish I had documented that one even better). I have been keeping notes on my phone about each week of pregnancy because I have already wanted to look back on my first pregnancy to find out things like when did I really start showing and when did I use pillows to sleep with at night. I haven’t been too good at taking pictures. The first pregnancy I documented the big weeks, 9,12,16,19/20 etc. even if I wasn’t showing. This time I have both wanted the bump to show up and not at the same time (I’m currently 18 weeks and 4 days and the bump has finally appeared around 17 weeks).  

9 Weeks:

Appointment-

Had my first appointment. I got to see our baby on the ultrasound. I love the first one even though the baby just looks like a little bean because the pregnancy becomes a reality and seeing the little flickering heartbeat is so comforting.

Lifestyle-

I am nauseous all day long! I haven’t thrown so that is nice. I get about 10-20 minutes between eating where I feel better. I am exhausted. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that I am chasing Adler around and can’t nap whenever. I need to eat every two hours and unlike last time I need to eat really slow. I forgot how annoying it is to have to use the bathroom all the time. This pregnancy feels different than the first time around and my hormones are out of control but I still am so happy for the little baby inside me.

Cravings-

Pizza, fruit, slurpees, carrots, french fries and sushi. The sushi is an unfortunate craving because I have to limit my intake. It kind of stinks to crave something I can’t eat. 

12 Weeks:

Appointment-

We had our next appointment at 11 weeks. I got to see our baby again and she zoomed in this time and it was so cute to see it starting to look like a baby! I am measuring on schedule and I had all my tests done at this appointment. 

Lifestyle-

I’m slowing starting to feel better and less nauseous. I’m not showing yet which surprises me a little because people always say you show faster with the second one. We announced to our family that we are pregnant which always so fun to do! I feel like I felt the baby kick at 11 weeks but I am not sure. 

15 Weeks:

Appointment-

We had our appointment at 14 weeks and 5 days. I got to see our baby again!!!! I LOVE THIS OB!! I’m not sure why I get an ultrasound every visit but I love it and I’m not complaining. This time the baby was facing us so I saw his/her face and we woke him/her up and saw him/her stretch. It was seriously the cutest thing ever! Everything is looking great!

Lifestyle-

I am for sure feeling the baby kick at 14 weeks. I forgot how much I love the feeling of baby kicks and I look forward to them. 

17 Weeks:

Lifestyle-

I am starting to show at 17 weeks and 2 days. The bump still fluctuates in size depending on how much I have eaten but there is defiantly a little bump showing. I am also still in my normal clothes which makes me happy. I feel like my bump is higher up than last time because things that sit higher on my waist are tight where as the stuff that sits on hips fits just fine still. My tops still fit except my clothing is starting to get tight in the chest area which defiantly didn’t happen last time (TMI??). I ordered a body pillow because I never got one the first time around. I am using Dane’s sweatshirts right now but I am looking forward to my pillow! 

Cravings-

My cravings have been the same this whole time but they have kind of subsided a little.

18 Weeks:

Lifestyle:

I am still in my normal clothes. As of now I really like my body pillow. We will see if I like it when I get bigger. My lower back is starting to hurt if I sit for too long. I am DYING to know the gender!

My next appointment is December 9th. I might try to get my doctor to just take a peek between the legs and let me know what we are having! I have a way I want to find out the gender with Dane but I can work on my surprised face and Dane will never know! We find out the gender at our anatomy scan appointment on the 15th! I can’t wait!!!!!!! 

WE’RE PREGNANT WITH BABY #2!!

We are so excited that we are expecting baby #2 who will be due May 5th 2016! I am currently 16 weeks pregnant and I love being in my 2nd trimester. 

Shortly after having Adler, Dane and I decided that we would like our kids about 2 years apart. I was a little nervous for this because I have heard that it can be tricky when they are young but I wanted them to be really close when they got older (Adler and the baby will be 2 years and 2 months apart). 

We were lucky that everything went according to schedule with getting pregnant. We both always have this feeling we are pregnant even before taking a test but I still waited until my missed period to take a pregnancy test. It was so hard to wait especially because we were around family a lot and somehow people always know when you are pregnant. I felt bad I had to lie to a few family members but hopefully they understood why. :) 

Last time we took the pregnancy test together, you can read that post here, but this time I decided to take one without Dane since I pretty much had a very strong feeling I was pregnant. I took the test and sure enough, pregnant! I was trying to find a creative way to tell Dane without letting my family know. We decided to go out to dinner for a midweek date and I would tell him then. This past Valentine’s day Dane gave me a whole bunch of those cheesy valentines you get in elementary school through out the day so I wanted to do something similar. I wrote Dane a whole bunch of notes and the first letter of each note spelled out WE’RE PREGNANT! I gave them to him through out dinner but about half way through he caught on and was super excited and just asked for all the notes! 

We waited a few days to tell my family because Dane’s brothers were all coming up that weekend and we thought it would be nice to tell everyone together! I was trying to think how we would tell them all day long and finally we decided we would tell everyone at dinner. We ordered pizzas and we had the pizza guy write “we are pregnant” inside the lid. Everyone was surprised and super excited. 

This picture isn't so great but you get the idea!!

We told Dane’s parents the next day over Skype. We were showing them all the things Adler could say at the time and then the last thing we had him say was “I’m going to be a big brother!”

This pregnancy has been a little different than the first one. This time around I felt nauseous pretty much all day during the first trimester. I never threw up but unlike the last pregnancy eating only took away the nausea away for 10 minutes. I was also exhausted all the time! This is probably mostly due to the fact that I was chasing around a toddler. I am still tired here and there, but it’s a lot more manageable. I had to eat every two hours and very slowly. My cravings are pizza (I literally could eat this all the time), french fries, and lots of fruit!! 

I am 18 weeks right now and my bump is finally starting to show! I can’t wait to find out the gender on the 15th of December!

We are both so excited but it’s so weird to think we are going to have 2 kids! We are eager to start this next journey of our life!

Adler’s Month of October

If you know my husband you know that Halloween is one of his favorite holidays, so we always try to make the month of October a fun one. You can read what we did last year here. I was excited this year because being back in Virginia meant that I could show Dane and Adler some of the traditions my family had when I was growing up! 

The first thing we did and probably my favorite thing from my childhood was going to Cox’s Farm. We went with Dane’s brother and his family and we had so much fun riding big slides, milking a cow, going on the best hayride I have ever been on, eating delicious food and petting the goats. The smell of cinnamon-toasted almonds and apple cider was all around you and seeing the joy on Adler’s face as he discovered new adventures made this a new family tradition. 

 The next weekend we went on a Halloween Eye Spy train ride. Adler LOVES trains so we knew we had to do this. We each got our own little car and an eye spy paper with pictures we were suppose to find along the ride. Adler didn’t really get the idea of finding the pictures but he loved seeing all the characters and holiday pictures on a ride through the forest. We know he likes something when he sits completely still and just stares at everything. This will probably also become a new tradition for us.

The week of Halloween was very busy! We started with our ward Halloween party. This was a lot of fun and Adler loved seeing all the kids in costumes. We ate at the make-your-own-hot-dog bar and then Adler enjoyed some pumpkin bowling before we headed out for trunk-or-treating. He could kind of say trick-or-treat but he was confused on why he couldn’t eat the candy as soon as he got it!

The Thursday before Halloween we had Under Armour’s party. We dressed up and then went to Dane’s office and walked around to different buildings to go trick-or-treating. Each department decorated their own floor so we got to explore haunted houses and candy lands. His company is huge so a lot of people were there with their kids but a lot of people were still hard at work. After trick-or-treating we went and got some lunch with Dane. 

This was Adler’s second Halloween but I think he is starting to get it more and more! I love when Halloween is on Saturday because then we get to spend all day with Dane. We watched The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and carved our pumpkins. Adler liked using the tools to scoop out the pumpkin guts but he did not want to touch it at all. Dane carved Adler a Mickey pumpkin and all Adler wanted to do was look at his pumpkin and show everyone Mickey. That night we got ready to go trick-or-treating but before we took some family pictures. Adler is starting to cooperate with family pictures but we still have to be on top of it and snap the pictures quickly! We decided to just do our neighborhood and we just did one street. We would ring the doorbell and we would tell him to say trick-or-treat. After a while he was more interested in if the people had dogs. They would open the door and he would just bark. It was adorable. People said he was the cutest owl ever even though half of the people thought he was a girl. We had a great Halloween and I can’t wait until next year when he is even older! After we put Adler to bed we watch Nightmare Before Christmas. 

We had a great month of October and now I am super excited for the upcoming months with Adler and my growing belly.